Electronic redeemable coupon system via television

ABSTRACT

An electronic redeemable coupon generating system which comprises an encoder for encoding coupon-related data in a television signal transmission, the transmission including picture information for display on a television monitor screen; a decoder for receiving the television signal transmission and extracting the coupon-related data therefrom; and a recording device for recording the extracted coupon-related data on a recording medium for subsequent readout and redemption. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the decoder includes a display driver for displaying indicia on a television monitor screen responsive to coupon-related data being encoded in the television signal transmission. Upon observing the indicia on the television monitor screen, the user can manually and selectively extract the coupon-related data from the television signal transmission. After an optional editing function, the extracted coupon-related data is stored on a recording medium such as a magnetically striped card.

CROSS-REFERENCED TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Applicant is the owner of prior filed U.S. patent application No.07/849,224 filed Mar. 10, 1992.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to redeemable coupons, and more particularly to asystem for generating electronic redeemable coupons. Coupon-related datais encoded in a television signal transmission and decoded in a homeunit for later redemption by the user.

2. Brief Description of the Prior Art

The use of redeemable coupons is very old. For decades advertisers haveissued or published printed coupons which can be taken to a redemptioncenter, such as a retail store, and redeemed for some value or as adiscount toward the purchase of some item. While this method has provento be effective, there are many disadvantages to the process for theuser, for the redemption center or retail store, as well as for theadvertisers themselves.

The problems associated with clipping coupons by a user are manifold.First, a user must purchase or otherwise obtain a publication and searchthrough such publication for coupons which would be meaningful or usefulto the user. The user then must cut out such coupons, being of variousphysical sizes, leaving a pile of scrap paper and holes in the pages ofthe publication. Some advertisers use handouts or flyers which make thesearching job easier, but there is still the problem of cutting out thecoupons which is annoying and a waste of valuable time. Being ofdifferent sizes and pertaining to different types of products, the usermust separate the coupons into product categories and band the couponstogether as best as he or she can. The user then stuffs these sortedcoupons into a pocket or purse and is off to the market. Upon arrival ata particular retail outlet at which at least some of the coupons areredeemable, the user usually fumbles through the groups of coupons andattempts to find the products in the store, and if they are not familiarwith the layout of the store, this could again constitute a gross misuseof valuable time. Furthermore, since each store lays out their productsdifferently, in order to redeem some coupons, the user may find itnecessary to search out the desirable item in a number of stores.Finally, upon gathering the product into the pushcart, the user has yetanother manipulation to make, i.e. he or she must select the coupons forwhich the products have been purchased from a number of coupons the userbrought to the store initially.

This then leads to the next problem associated with coupon redemption,in that the store clerk must sort through the coupons, ensuring thatthey relate to the products being purchased and that the expirationdates are appropriate, and then enter the discount information in thecomputer (modernly, by a bar code scanner). This part of the redemptionprocess takes valuable time away from the checkout clerk and irritatesother people waiting in the checkout line. After the customer leaves,the retail store is still not relieved from further expenditure ofvaluable employee time, since the accumulated coupons in the retailstore must now be sorted by manufacturer, tallied on a score sheet or ina computer or submitted to a brokerage house, and sent off to themanufacturer for retail store reimbursement.

Insofar as the manufacturer of the product is concerned, while there isdirect evidence that people are reading their ads and using coupons, andalthough the number of coupons coming back to the manufacturer indicatessome level of success in advertising, there is very little additionalmarketing information that can be derived from this type of couponredemption scheme. Furthermore, any information the manufacturer doesobtain is old information, the total processing of a coupon frompublication to reimbursement to the retail stores taking perhaps severalweeks. Additionally, the manufacturer has no information whatsoeverabout the nature of the customer, their age, sex, occupation, familyenvironment, place of residence, or other information which would be ofgreat value to the manufacturer in planning future advertising programs.Since each coupon is submitted anonymously, the manufacturer has no ideaof how to reach that person again for arousing interest in relatedproducts. While some demographic information can be obtained by notingthe geographical regions in which the coupons were redeemed, the lack ofany specific information as to the nature of the purchaser leads manymanufacturers to conduct separate marketing surveys which are extremelycostly and time consuming. Some manufacturers are known to have spentmillions of dollars to gather such information.

The television industry, contrasted to the printed media industry, isunable to offer its viewers (potential customers) any coupons which canbe taken to the retail store for redemption. The best that an advertisercan do in television is to simply make the public aware of a sale on aparticular item or line of items produced by a certain manufacturer. Insome instances, telephone numbers and/or addresses are given to theviewing public, and if the viewer wishes to use up a lot of valuabletime, he or she can make the telephone call and/or write the letter togain access to additional information and perhaps coupons which can beredeemed for products or discounts on products. Again, however, thegeneral public is generally not willing to make the extra effort to jotdown a telephone number and make a call which likely would end up in a"sales job" from the person at the other end of the line, and would, toan even greater extent, resist the suggestion to write a letter to themanufacturer for product and discount pricing information, assuming thata pencil and paper is ,always at hand and that the name and address towhich the viewer is to write is presented on the screen long enough tocopy it down.

It can therefore be appreciated that there are many problems associatedwith existing coupon redemption programs, and the drawbacks of thesesystems are numerous and disliked by all three entities involved, theconsumer, the redemption center (retail outlet store), and themanufacturer. There is therefore a great need for a redeemable couponsystem which would: (1) significantly decrease the amount of time andeffort a consumer expends in locating, clipping, and assembling thecoupons; (2) give the consumer guidance at the redemption center as tothe availability of the product to which the coupon pertains and thelocation in the store of that product; (3) enable the redemption centerto more quickly and automatically credit the coupon amounts against theproducts being purchased and reduce the time and effort in organizingand reporting the coupons which have been redeemed; (4) enable themanufacturer to get quick results in the amount of usage of the coupons,the demographics of usage, and detailed information about the consumerincluding name, address, interests, and other data which would permitthe manufacturer to access the value of the coupon distributing effortand to make and/or modify future plans for additional advertising orsale; and (5) establish firm controls over excessive or non-intended useof coupons. The present invention fulfills these various needs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes the deficiencies and disadvantages ofcurrent coupon redemption programs outlined above by providing anelectronic redeemable coupon generating system which comprises anencoding means for encoding coupon-related data in a television signaltransmission, the transmission including picture information for displayon a television monitor screen; decoding means for receiving thetelevision signal transmission including means for extracting thecoupon-related data therefrom; and recording means for recording theextracted coupon-related data on a recording medium for subsequentreadout and redemption.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the decoding means includesmeans for displaying indicia on a television monitor screen responsiveto coupon-related data being encoded in the television signaltransmission. Upon observing the indicia on the television monitorscreen, the user can manually and selectively enable and disableextraction of the coupon-related data from the television signaltransmission.

The selectively extracted coupon-related data is then accumulated in amemory means within the decoding means, and after an optional editingfunction, the extracted coupon-related data is stored on a recordingmedium. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the recording meansis a magnetic card writer and the medium is a magnetically striped card.

In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a decoding unitfor receiving a television signal transmission containing pictureinformation for display on a television monitor screen and alsocontaining encoded coupon-related data, the decoding unit comprisingmeans for extracting the coupon-related data from the television signaltransmission, and recording means for recording the extractedcoupon-related data on a recording medium for subsequent readout andredemption. The decoding unit may be a stand-alone unit or incorporatedwithin the electronics of a "cable box".

After the electronic coupon is redeemed at the redemption center,additional apparatus at the redemption center is configured to assembleand printout reports of coupon redemption activity for eachmanufacturer. However, after being entered electronically, theinformation is sorted and reports are generated automatically by theoperation of the redemption center's computer. The operation of thecomputer apparatus at the redemption center is not unlike theconfiguration and functioning of any other data base computer system,the only difference being the type of information being manipulated.

In a sophisticated redemption center apparatus configuration, means canbe provided for reading the stored electronic coupon data from theuser's magnetic card by having the user wipe the card through a magneticcard reader at the cash register, and the discounts would be appliedautomatically to the products being purchased. The sales slip wouldreflect the original price, the discount, and the net amount owed by thecustomer in an almost instantaneous fashion. Optionally the redemptioncenter can have an electronic coupon desk where a user can wipe his orher card in a card reader and have a display or printout of theavailability and location in the store of the product of interest. Ifprinted out, the coupons or coupon list can be presorted so that thepurchaser will be guided through the store aisles in an orderly fashionas the different items are gathered in.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention will now be described in more detail having reference tothe accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows the front face of a home unit which functions as a decoderfor extracting coupon-related data from a television signaltransmission;

FIG. 2 illustrates possible interconnections of the home unit as itwould be connected, depending upon desire of the user, with a cable box,VCR, television monitor, printer, and remote control device;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the internal functions of the home unit;

FIG. 4 is a more detailed block diagram of the control circuit shown inFIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a representation of the arrangement of bytes comprising theseparate fields of the encoded coupon message;

FIG. 6 is a more detailed block diagram of the authorization controllershown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a detailed block diagram of the "authorized after X days"interval timer of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is one arrangement of the apparatus in a redemption center forreceiving and manipulating data from redeemed electronic coupons;

FIG. 9 illustrates a basic arrangement for crediting electronic coupondiscounts directly on the sales slip of a cash register at a redemptioncenter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A home unit 1 is shown in FIG. 1 in the form of a small box which couldbe placed on the top of a television receiver or other convenientlocation. The home unit 1 can optionally have a display screen 3 and aseries of operating buttons 5. In a preferred embodiment of theinvention, a magnetic card (hereinafter referred to as magcard) slot 7receives a magcard (not shown) for writing or reading purposes. It is tobe understood that other mediums could be used, such as optical cardsand microelectronic (microchip) circuit cards.

FIG. 1 is only one example of a home unit, and many variations arepossible. For example, all of the electronics of the home unit can behidden from view with the exception of an infrared sensor to receive acommand from a remote control device. The magnetic card writer/readerwith slot 7 can be a totally separate unit so as to occupy as littlespace as possible on the top of a television set. For example, themagcard writer/reader could be stuck to the side of a televisionreceiver by means of doublebacked foam tape. Some functions, however,might be more user friendly with a home unit such as that shown in FIG.1 which could duplicate any of the functions controllable by the remotecontrol device.

The operation of the home unit would typically be as follows. Indescribing this function, reference is also made to the block diagram ofFIG. 2 which shows a basic overall arrangement of the home unit havingvarious coupling arrangements with a cable box 33, a VCR 35, atelevision receiver/monitor 39, a printer 41, and a remote controldevice 43.

During the presentation of a television commercial, a logo or emblem 40is seem in the upper right hand corner of the TV screen 38. If theviewer is interested in the product that is the subject of thecommercial, the user pushes the VIEW button 9, and a message 8 isinstantly decoded from the television signal transmission and displayedalong the bottom of screen 38. The message can inform the viewer thatthe manufacturer or sponsor of the commercial has available anelectronic coupon to be redeemed. For example, the message 8 might read"$1 discount on 6-pack of Coke®". If the user wishes to take advantageof this offer, the COUPON button 11 is pressed, and coupon-related datais entered into an internal memory of the home unit 1. A confirmationsignal is generated upon successful memorization of a selectedelectronic coupon which alters an attribute of the logo as a visualindicator of the confirmation. For example, a color in the logo willchange upon confirmation. The viewer continues to push the VIEW button 9each time a logo or emblem 40 is observed and the viewer is interestedin the commercial product. Likewise, each time the viewer is interestedin redeeming the coupon offer made in the message 8, the COUPON button11 is pressed to store all selected coupon-related data for eachcommercial in the internal memory of home unit 1.

When the viewer wishes to redeem the electronically stored coupons, theDISPLAY LIST button 13 is depressed. This immediately puts onto thescreen 38 or to the local display 3 of the home unit 1 itself, a couponlist which shows all of the accumulated electronic coupons selected bythe viewer by the procedure just described. Since the list may be longand include items which the viewer may no longer interested in, anediting function is provided. The UP ARROW button 15 and DOWN ARROWbutton 17 are used, as with any computer keyboard, to move a cursorthrough and scroll the coupon list. For any listed coupons in which theviewer is no longer interested, the "DELETE" button 4 is pressed. Thiswill instantly delete the coupon at the cursor position from the list(or from the item category discussed below). The viewer then pushes theMARK button 6 for each coupon of current interest in the list. Afterbeing satisfied that the list includes all the electronic coupons whichthe viewer wishes to redeem, the LOAD COUPON button 19 is pressed whilea magcard (not shown) is wiped through slot 7. This will transfer themarked coupons to the magcard for redemption.

Looking ahead at the coupon-related data to be stored in the memory ofhome unit FIG. 5 shows a one character code byte 260 which is part ofthe retail coupon purchase information identifying the product. Eachproduct type will have a different code number. For example, groceryitems may be code 1, hardware items code 2, automobile items code 3,home improvement items code 4, and so on. One of the convenient featuresof the present invention is the automatic sorting of inputtedcoupon-related data, similar to the operation of a pocket telephonenumber data base wherein the names associated with each telephone numberare sorted in alphabetical order automatically upon entry. When theviewer is thus presented with the list of redeemable electronic coupons,the coupons will be presorted automatically into separate categories ofitems, with grocery items being listed first, hardware items second,etc. The viewer can further assist in the convenient use of electroniccoupons by uniquely marking individual magnetic cards, or choosingdifferent colors for them so that each marked card will be used to storethe same type coupon. For example, the card for grocery items may becolored blue, hardware items green, automobile items red, and so on.Since the items on the TV screen will already be grouped in categories,it will be relatively easy to place a mark beside the selected items, orgroup of items, in any particular category and, using the LOAD COUPONbutton 19, record on the respective colored card only the items in thatcategory. The next colored card is then selected and the user scrollsthrough the next grouping on the list of redeemable coupons and makesthe choices as before for this new category. Since most television setshave color screens, it is a relatively simple matter to go one stepfurther in the presentation of the list of electronic coupons bypresenting the particular category of coupons on the screen in colorscorresponding to colored cards to be used to store the coupons selectedfrom that category. The electronics for carrying out this function arenot described in this specification.

Since the viewer may have several magcards which contain data that is nolonger valid, an ERASE button 21 is provided. The viewer merely holdsthe ERASE button 21 down while wiping the card through slot 7, and theappropriate magnetic strip on the card is erased. Both the ERASE button21 and LOAD COUPON button 19 must be held down while wiping the cardthrough slot 7. This is a safety feature which will eliminate thepossibility of accidentally recording over or erasing a card if eitherof these two functions were to remain active upon pushing and releasingtheir respective buttons.

When either the LOAD COUPON or ERASE buttons 19 or 21 are pressed, it isimportant for the user to know whether or not the information has beensuccessfully transferred to the magcard. In accordance with knowncircuitry, when either button 19 or 21 is pressed, a green "standby"light 2a will illuminate. When the card is wiped through slot 7, if ithas been read correctly and verified by known digital comparisontechniques, a red "confirm" light 2b will be lit. Preferably, theindicators 2a and 2b are LED indicators.

Finally, as will be learned later, the viewer/user may redeem certainelectronic coupons at a retail store and not others. He or she thusreturns home with some unused electronic coupons on the magcard.Provisions are thus made to retrieve unused electronic coupons back intothe memory of the home unit 1 by pushing the READ IN button 23 andwiping the card through slot 7, to eliminate the accumulation ofnumerous cards of similar categories with only remnant couponsremaining.

Since the electronic coupon information to be displayed as a message 8on screen 38 is contained in the television signal transmission, variouspossibilities for connecting the home unit 1 with already existingcomponents in the viewer/user's home are possible. FIG. 2 shows certainpossibilities. In solid line interconnection, a cable box 33 receivesthe television signal from a cable system and outputs thecable-converted signal to one of the unused air-transmitted televisionchannels as input to VCR 35. Alternatively, an antenna 10 may be routed,as shown in dotted lines to the input to VCR 35 or directly to thetelevision receiver 39. As yet another alternative, the cable box 33 canoutput its rf signal to an rf input terminal 61 of home unit 1. If a VCR35 is used, the rf output on line 51 can be substituted into the rfinput terminal 61 of home unit 1. In the example of this description, itwill be assumed that the rf input to terminal 61 is a television signaltransmission on channel 3. In such a case, home unit 1 must have anrf-to-video converter, as will be explained in connection with FIG. 3.

More desirably, home unit 1 receives a video input on terminal 63 fromline 53 of VCR 35. Of course, any other video source is equallyacceptable, such as that on line 55 directly from the televisionreceiver/monitor 39. Video in and video out terminals on television setsare becoming more popular but are not available on certain sets,especially older ones.

In order to insert the coupon-related data onto the signal beingdisplayed on screen 38, it is necessary to pass the television signal,normally being displayed on the TV screen, through home unit 1. Themessage 8 is then inserted by an encoding process and routed to thetelevision set 39. If a video input terminal is available on TV set 39,an encoded video formatted signal on line 49 is outputted at terminal 67of home unit 1 If an rf input is to be used on television set 39, avideo-to-rf converter within home unit 1 will have to be used to outputa channel 3 rf signal on line 47 from output terminal 65. FIG. 2, inaddition to showing a magcard writer/reader 45 (having a slot 7 as shownin FIG. 1), also shows an optional local printer 42 for direct printingof coupons to be redeemed by the viewer/user. An auxiliary output fromterminal 69, however, is available for an external printer 41 or anyother use, such as an optical stripe writer/reader instead of themagcard writer/reader 45.

As mentioned earlier, instead of using front panel control buttons 5(FIG. 1), a remote control device 43, sending its commands along aninfrared path 44, will be received by home unit 1, and all functions ofhome unit 1 will respond to such commands. Various methods and devicesare available for programming remote control devices for new functions,and therefore such discussion in this description is not necessary. Itis sufficient to state, however, that any mechanical button operation onthe front panel of home unit 1 shown in FIG. 1 can be easily duplicatedon the remote control device. Two possible exceptions are the ERASE andLOAD COUPON functions described earlier whose functions are preferablycarried out only when the respective buttons 21 and 19 are held downduring the wiping of the card through slot 7.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the home unit 1 depicting the circuitblocks necessary to carry out the desired functions. Each of the blockswill be described as to their specific function, and all such blocks inFIG. 3, when fully detailed in accordance with FIGS. 4, 6, and 7 and theassociated description, will enable the person skilled in the art tomake and use the invention by interconnecting available components toimplement the functions to be described and in a manner which would bereadily apparent to those skilled in the art without undueexperimentation.

It will be recalled that the television signal transmission will containcoupon-related data encoded in the transmission. For a description ofhow this can be done, reference is made to the inventor's aforementionedprior invention entitled "ENCODER/DECODER FOR VISUAL DISPLAY OFAUDIO/VISUAL PROGRAM PARTICULARS", filed Mar. 10, 1992 under Ser. No.07/849,224, such prior patent application being incorporated here byreference. In such prior patent application, it is suggested thatcertain message information can be carried in the vertical intervalbetween horizontal sync pulses of a television signal, similar to themanner in which close-captioned message information is transmitted.Although other methods of encoding a television signal transmission arepossible and could be described, the manner in which such encoding takesplace is not the focus of this invention, and it will be assumed thatthe closed-caption type encoding process is used. Obviously, theinformation could also be encoded in various sub-carriers of thevideo/audio components of the television signal.

In any event, the function of FIG. 3 is to decode the messageinformation from the television signal transmission, indicate theexistence of the coupon-related data being transmitted to the viewer,mix the decoded coupon-related data with the normal television picturesignal so as to present a superimposition of the two signals on thetelevision screen of the viewer, and to provide various functions formanipulating the electronic coupon information, e.g. for couponredemption.

If the input to home unit 1 is video, it is applied to terminal 61 andsent along line 105 to an automatic signal input selector 103. If theinput is rf, it will be inputted into terminal 63, applied along line100 to a conventional rf-to-video converter 101, the output of which isagain a video signal also routed to selector 103. Automatic signal inputselectors are known which respond to whatever input is active, so thatthe operation of selector 103 is understood to be known without detailedexplanation. The video output on line 109 is applied both to the messagecontroller 115 and alpha-numeric coupon message decoder 111, decoder 111extracting the message encoded in the video signal and outputting themessage signal alone on line 113 as an input to control circuit 117. Inthis description, the term "message" will be used to designate thecontents of the electronic coupon. For example, decoder 111 converts theelectronic coupon information encoded in the television signaltransmission to a series of digital bits grouped in bytes, a number ofbytes defining the data contained in several fields, the string offields defining the "message". Both the video (picture) input on line109 and message input on line 113 are operated on in control circuit 117in a manner to be discussed later, with the result that video (picture)information outputted on line 119 and message information(coupon-related data) on line 123 is mixed in video mixer 121, sent todisplay driver 139 over line 137, and made available at video outputterminal 67 or, through a video-to-rf converter 143 to an rf outputterminal 65 over line 145. A TV monitor will receive either output 65 or67, depending upon whether an rf or video input to the TV monitor isselected. This basic signal path through message controller 115 resultsin a display of the message in the picture presented to the viewer,preferably superimposed at the bottom of the screen so as to permit theviewer to continue to watch the program or commercial in progress.

As indicated, a logo or emblem is to appear on the TV screen when amessage is being transmitted, and toward that end, an output of decoder111 is applied on line 112, to message sensor 114. Sensor 114 istherefore simply a threshold detector which disables logo generator 118by a control line 116 in the absence of a message signal. However, whena message is being decoded by decoder 111, the threshold of sensor 114is exceeded, and the output on line 116 is an enabling control signal(logical 1) to permit logo generator 118 to generate an electroniccoupon logo or simple emblem with timing and synchronization so that thelogo will appear in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Asuggested logo, for example, would be a thin circle. The logo signal online 120 is fed to video mixer 121 and mixed with the video pictureinformation and message information as previously described. Thus, if amessage is present in the television signal transmission, the logo willappear on the TV screen, and if not, the logo will not be visible.

A keyboard 150 represents either the buttons 5 (FIG. 1) on the home unit1 itself, or the functions controlled by buttons on a remote controldevice 43. The infrared light beam 44 is sensed by infrared sensor 153and sent as digital commands on line 155 to remote command converter151. Converter 151 merely converts the digitized remote control buttonpushes to a specific "1" and "0" control signal for operating inparallel with or in substitution for the ON/OFF mechanical buttons ofthe keyboard 150. By such control, messages are selectively stored bycommand of the control circuit 117 passing the extracted message on line125 to coupon message memory 128. As confirmation to the user that acoupon message has been successfully stored, control unit 117 sends aconfirm signal back to logo generator 118 on line 116a which changes anattribute of the logo, e.g. it may change to a solid filled circle, orit may change color.

An editing function in control circuit 117, to be discussed later, canerase any stored coupon by action on line 127 and can retrieve storedmessages from memory 128 on line 129.

After the accumulated messages in coupon message memory 128 are properlyedited, they are outputted over line 131 to a magnetic cardwriter/reader 133 and printer driver 132. Although not the preferredembodiment of the invention, the output of driver 132 is available as anauxiliary output at terminal 69, or is sent along line 134 to a localcoupon printer 42 which is physical located on the home unit 1, similarto the manner in which the tape printer in a hand-held calculator ismounted. In this way, the selected coupon messages can be printed outfor redemption at a retail outlet similar to the way cut-out coupons areredeemed prior to the present invention. There are advantages, however,in using coupons printed by the home unit. One advantage is that, alongwith the stated amount of discount for a particular product, thestandard bar code for that product is also printed on the coupon. Whenthe coupon is taken to the store for redemption, an optical reader atthe store will scan the bar code and make available valuable informationto the customer, such as whether or not the product is in stock and theaisle location in the store. While cut-out coupons have bar codes, thereis an opportunity to include other information useful to the store ownerand/or product manufacturer, such as personal data on the coupon userand the details of the television program being viewed when the couponoffer was selected.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the accumulated couponmessages in memory 128, upon command by the viewer/user will beoutputted over line 131 to a magcard writer/reader 133 and written ontoa magnetic card wiped through slot 7 receiving its input fromwriter/reader 133 on line 135.

As earlier explained, if information is to be transferred from themagcard back to the home unit 1, this is accomplished by wiping the cardthrough slot 7 resulting in a signal on line 136 to the reader portionof writer/reader 133. The recovered message information is then passedover line 247 back to control circuit 117 for insertion into the memory128 along with the other accumulated messages there.

FIG. 4 is a more detailed block diagram of the control circuit 117 shownin FIG. 3. Recalling the need for passing the video signal through thehome unit 1 for insertion of the logo and message, the video input online 107 is passed through a video amplifier 201 and onto mixer 121 intowhich the logo signal on line 120 and the message on line 123 areinputted. The mixed output is sent to display driver 137 for ultimatedisplay on TV monitor 39.

In this discussion, as opposed to operating a number of buttons on thehome unit 1 itself, it will be presumed that the operation of controlcircuit 117 is by way of the remote control device 43 which produces anumber of commands from converter 151 and decoded into separate commandlines in remote command decoder 205 in a conventional manner. Thisdecoder 205 simply creates a digital "1" or "0" signal on theappropriate output line in correspondence with the unique digital codegenerated by pushing corresponding buttons on the remote control device43. Such processing of information from by remote control unit intoseparate command lines is a well-known technique.

It will be recalled that the first step in the process of storing adesired message is to recognize that the message is being transmittedand to insert a logo on the TV screen. Alpha-numeric coupon messagedecoder 111 continually receives the video input signal which may or maynot contain a message. However, if one exists at all, it will be passedon line 113 to video switch 209 and AND gate 213. Since the viewer doesnot want to see every message that comes along, the message signal issent to video switch 209 for control by the user. On the other hand, inFIG. 3 it was learned that when a message is present, a logo isgenerated in the upper right hand corner of the TV screen. Preferably,the logo is not switchable to an OFF state. When the viewer sees thatlogo, the "VIEW" command enables video switch 209 to pass the message online 123 to video mixer 121.

The "VIEW" command on line 207 will always pass the message through tobe observed on the TV screen. However, in the absence of a "VIEW"command, video switch 209 will be turned off and no message transmittedthrough to the TV monitor. Thus, while the logo will appear for each andevery electronic coupon message being transmitted, the message at thebottom of the screen will appear only at the user's discretion, i.e. ifthe "VIEW" command is given. The logo will intentionally be small enoughso as to not disturb the viewer from enjoying the picture presentation.It should be realized moreover, that such logo will appear only duringcommercial presentations in any event.

The viewer will not want to accumulate every available electronic couponin memory 128 for a variety of reasons. First, the viewer will not beinterested in purchasing each and every product for each logo appears.Secondly, the memory 128 will, of course, have reasonable storagecapacity limitations. Thus, a message is not to be stored in memory 128until the user selectively issues the "COUPON" command. This command, online 211, opens AND gate 213 and passes the message signal on line 215to a message verifier 216 which simply ensures that the asynchronoussignal being received is digitally valid, at which time it sends thecomplete message on line 125 to be stored in memory 128. The viewer thenhas another opportunity, at seeing the next logo, to select or not themessage for storage in memory 128 by again issuing the "COUPON" command.Memory 128 thus accumulates a number of messages representing storedelectronic coupons.

At any time the viewer wishes, a review of the stored messages can bemade. All that is necessary is for the viewer to issue the "DISPLAYLIST" command. This command has two basic functions. First, over line217, it is inverted logically by NAND gate 219 so that a "DISPLAY LIST"command turns off video amplifier 201 by control line 203. The picturecontent of the video program is thus interrupted and a blank screen, orsolid colored screen, would appear on the TV monitor. At the same time,the "DISPLAY LIST" command switches to the output of video switch 209the input on line 288 from a message list editor 227 which continuallysorts and monitors all of the messages in memory 128 on retrieval line129. Thus, at any time video switch 209 selects its input on line 288,the entire list of messages in memory 128 will be presented on the TVscreen sorted by a code and product manufacturer identification usingfields 260 and 262 in the message data bytes of each electronic coupon,as will be discussed in connection with FIG. 5. In this case, the entirescreen, not just the bottom thereof, will contain information, being theentire list of electronic coupons stored in memory 128. The reason forinterrupting the video programming picture by disabling amplifier 201 isto permit easy viewing and editing of the electronic coupon listingwithout a disturbing moving picture in the background. The viewer wouldobviously want to concentrate on the electronic coupon listing withoutdistraction, and would do so when the viewer is not interested in thepicture presentation (e.g. late at night, just before going on ashopping trip, etc.).

Since the accumulated electronic coupons may be more than the TV screencan display at one time, the viewer can issue an "UP ARROW" or "DOWNARROW" command on lines 225 and 223 respectively to scroll through thestored electronic coupon menu. Since it is also desirable to discardelectronic coupons no longer of interest or which were tentative in thefirst place, an editing function is provided in control circuit 117.

With the "DISPLAY LIST" command issued, the viewer can scroll throughthe coupon menu and issue a "DELETE" command on line 238 whichimmediately removes the identified coupon message from memory. Whetheror not a "DELETE" command is issued, the viewer may issue a "MARK"command on line 236 which inserts a flag into those messages on the menuwhich the user wishes to keep while the cursor is scrolling through thecoupon menu. This is a convenience feature whereby the user may not wantto write all of the coupons to the magcard, for example if the userwants to shop at one grocery store for some items now and at anothergrocery store for other items later. After the viewer is satisfied thatall of the marked electronic coupons are those he or she wishes toredeem, the "LOAD COUPON" command is issued on line 221. Prior toissuance of the "LOAD COUPON" command, AND gate 229 as disabled by thelow logic level of line 221. Thus, the continually recycled messages inmemory 128, available on line 228 does not pass through AND gate 229.However, after marking, the "LOAD COUPON" command erases all of theflagged messages in memory 128 over erase line 127 by action of themessage list editor 227 responding thereto, and enables gate 229,passing the edited electronic coupon listing over line 230 to a messageassembler 231 which serves as a holding register for the edited couponlist. The coupon list is passed through authorization controller 243 andon to data driver 245 for outputting on line 131 to either a printerdriver 132 or the magnetic card writer 133. In this manner, the contentsof a magcard is only those electronic coupons which the viewer wishes toredeem.

Another feature of the invention involves an automatic validationfunction which checks to see if any given message which the viewerwishes to store is valid and "authorized", before the user issues the"LOAD COUPON" command. There are several reasons why it would not beadvisable to either permit storage of a particular electronic coupon orto permit it to remain in memory 128. The obvious reason is that certaincoupons are intended to expire after a certain date. One of thefunctions of the home unit 1 is to automatically delete those couponswhich have expired from the coupon menu listing. Another reason forlimiting the contents of memory 128 is that a manufacturer may wish tohonor a discount coupon only a limited number of times per family, or asingle discount now and a predetermined time to pass before the discountwould be good by the same user. Otherwise, the manufacturer may have aflood of discount coupons generated by a single user who distributes thecoupons in printed form or on magnetic cards to all of his friends orneighbors at will.

Another reason for disqualifying the storage and usage of electroniccoupons is that a user of the electronic coupon system may be requiredto reinitialize or update the system by means of a simple regular,perhaps yearly, maintenance procedure. Each user, for example, may beconsidered a subscriber to the electronic coupon service, and if thereis reason to discontinue a user's subscription, such user should beprecluded from using the system. The updating will ensure that thehousehold information retained in the system is kept current.

Authorization controller 243 is provided to serve those functions. Itreceives the message list from message assembler 231 and entersinformation from a subscription card (to be discussed later) on line 247from the magcard reader 133. Controller 243 then automatically permitspassage of, or not, the contents of register 231 in accordance with theblock diagram of FIG. 6.

Having reference back to FIG. 4, the object of the authorizationcontroller 243 is to selectively restrict electronic coupons from beingrecorded on a magcard by magnetic card writer/reader 133 under certainconditions, and to add or update household information which identifiesthe user/owner of the magcard. Toward this end, the output from messageassembler 231, representing the digital form of the assembled (edited)list of electronic coupons, is passed over line 244 to authorizationcontroller 243. Household information is received by controller 243 overline 247 from the magcard reader. If there are no restrictions on theuse of any particular electronic coupon, controller 243 passes thedigitized electronic coupon over line 251 to data driver 245. Driver 245is simply a buffer to send data to printer driver 132 and magnetic cardwriter 133.

FIG. 5 shows one arrangement of data bytes in a complete messagerepresenting an electronic coupon. The complete message is shown at 250comprising four sections: a RETAIL COUPON PURCHASE INFORMATION portion252; a RETAILER PROCESSING INFORMATION portion 254; a SECUREDSUBSCRIPTION SERVICE portion 256; and a FUTURE EXPANSION portion 258.These four portions are also shown broken down into their smallercomponents in FIG. 5. For the purposes of disclosing the basicinvention, only the first three sections are discussed in detail hereinand implemented by specific circuit blocks in the drawing.

For example, portion 252 contains information about the product beingpurchased or upon which the discount is to be applied, and has thefollowing sections CODE 260 (1 byte), PRODUCT MANUFACTURER 262 (5bytes), CHECK DIGIT 264 (1 byte), PRODUCT IDENTIFICATION 266 (5 bytes),COUPON DISCOUNT AMOUNT 268 (6 bytes), EXPIRATION DATE 270 (6 bytes),VALIDITY TIME INTERVAL 272 (6 bytes) and LIMIT CODE 274 (1 byte).

The card to be used with the invention is based on the current ADAstandards (210 bits per inch, per track) of magnetic card technologyusing an older standard 4-track per strip system, with a maximum of fourstrips per card. There are approximately 2,750 data bits per magnetictape strip×4 strips maximum per card, or 11,000 bytes per card. Incertain fields of information, such as that in RETAIL COUPON PURCHASEINFORMATION portion 252, only numerical information is necessary. Inthese fields, five bits per character would be required resulting in2,750/5=550 usable characters per strip or 2200 bytes per card. In otherfields, as will be discussed later, it may be necessary to express theinformation in alpha-numeric format, such as with names or descriptions,and in such a case, each character will require 7 bits for definition,and in the alpha-numeric character mode, the total number of availablecharacters is 2,750/7=392 usable alpha-numeric characters per strip. InFIG. 5, those fields which can use a numeric format have their bit countidentified with a # sign, while those fields requiring an alpha-numericformat have their bits identified with the @ sign.

Depending upon choice and need, the number of tracks per strip can bemodified, and this may involve the use of non-ADA standards in order toaccommodate a sufficient quantity of coupons without the requirement offour strips per card.

In FIG. 5, the RETAILER PROCESSING INFORMATION portion 254 has thefollowing fields: RETAILER REIMBURSEMENT AMOUNT 276 (4 bytes); ANNUALUPDATE CODE 254 (3 bytes); and REQUIRED MERGE LINES 280 (1 byte). Thereimbursement amount in field 276 is the retailer's reimbursementexpressed in cents. Field 254 is the annual (or possibly every two year)update code for establishing a renewal deadline date. The current datemust be prior to this date for the coupons on the user's magcard to bevalid. The first of the three bytes represents the first, second, third,or fourth quarter of a year, and the second and third bytes representsthe cut-off year (e.g. 92=1992). Field 280, INFO CODE, is reserved foruse by the subscription service company and comprises one numeric byte.It may be used by the service company to gather information about themarketing of the product or about the customer household moreintelligently. For example, a "0" in the field might indicate that theadvertiser is not interested in household information, but ratherquantities and geographical marketing data. A "1" may indicate that anadvertiser wishes to receive a report from the subscription serviceorganized by consumer zip code. A "2" could indicate the desire on thepart of the advertiser to know the age grouping in the household thatpurchased the product. Thus, the advertiser has an opportunity to inserta code in the message being transmitted (and to change it periodically)which automatically will be understood and acted upon by thesubscription service company to give instant marketing results to theadvertisers in exactly the way the advertisers want it.

The SECURED SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE 256 portion of the message 250 isbroken down into the following fields: SOURCE: PUBLICATION/BROADCAST LOG282 (11 bytes); HOUSEHOLD NAME 285 (15 bytes); ADDRESS 286 (20 bytes);and ZIP CODE 288 (5 bytes). To increase the number of coupons on amagcard, the last three fields can be expressed in a "Customer I.D.Number" of 9 numerical bytes instead of the 40 bytes indicated.

An approximation of the number of coupons that can be recorded on asingle magcard, using the numbers noted in FIG. 5 and assuming ahousehold 9 byte code, a total of 50 bytes (all numeric) per couponresults in 43 coupons plus one household field per card.

Future expansion of the system will involve the immediate use of aconsumer's credit card at the retail outlet at which the credit cardinformation will be also be a part of the information recorded on theelectronic card carrying the electronic coupons.

Referring to FIG. 6, as previously indicated, there are certainrestrictions on the use of electronic coupons. Authorization controller243 thus monitors all messages intended to be stored on the user'smagcard, i.e. the assembled messages on line 244, and selectively passesthis data through AND gate 305 if the other inputs to AND gate 305 arelogical "1"s. In FIG. 6, there are two functional blocks which wouldturn off gate 305 if certain conditions are not met. Interval timer 313is configured to output a logical 1 on line 315 if an electronic couponis intended to be used only once and then again only after the passageof a predetermined time interval. That function is discussed inconnection with FIG. 7.

Contained within the electronic coupon message is an expiration dateregister 303 which decodes the 6 byte section 270 from the retailpurchase information 252 in the character string comprising theelectronic coupon message. Register 303 thus is simply a comparatorcomparing the expiration date of the electronic coupon to be recorded onthe user's magcard with the real time on line 312 from an internal realtime clock generator 311. If the expiration date has not yet passed, theoutput of register 303 will be a logical 1. Otherwise, it is a logical 0and turns off date 305 to restrict passage of the message attempting tobe passed to data driver 305 from the message assembler 231.

It is to be understood that the use of a real time clock and expressingdates as days/months/years is a logical and direct way of dealing withexpiration dates and the like. However, this may require the user to seta real time clock, which is a nuisance, and requires six bytes ofvaluable coupon message content To eliminate these concerns, amodification of the circuitry of FIGS. 6 and 7 (not shown) by ratherroutine measures can use a 2-digit expiration date code representing thenumber of weeks the coupon would be valid. This "incremental" manner ofexpressing time will automatically eliminate the need for a real timeclock.

As previously discussed, in order to be authorized to use the electroniccoupon system of this invention it is anticipated that the user will,beneficially, be required to cooperate with a subscription service, andin such a case, two additional needs of the system require attention.First, a subscription data card will be issued to each viewer/user andcontains, already recorded on the card, household information which wastaken from an information sheet prepared by the viewer/user whenapplying for the subscription. The subscription card (not shown) is readinto the system by wiping it through slot 7 of the magcard reader 133(FIG. 4), and the data reaches authorization controller 243 via line247. The information read into controller 243 from the subscriptionmagcard includes household date information, i.e. data bytes comprisingthe secured subscription service portion 256 of the electronic couponmessage 250, and expiration date information from data field 270. Theformer is detected and decoded in decoder 307 which then updates thehousehold data base programmable read only memory PROM 309. Thishousehold information on line 306 will be combined, in AND gate 305,with the electronic coupon information on line 244 if AND gate 305 isenabled at its other outputs. The updated household data base includesthe new subscription expiration date which is inserted in field 254 whenthe user downloads electronic coupons to a magcard. In this way, theretailer can verify the fact that a user is an updated and validsubscriber.

Upon receiving a new subscription magcard extending the user'ssubscription service through another annual period (or other convenienttime period), subscription card decoder 301 decodes a new "VALID UNTIL"date from the subscription magcard and updates the expiration dateregister 303. Register 303 thus has two functions, it compares the realtime clock on line 312 with both the expiration date bytes 270 in theelectronic coupon message and also makes a similar comparison with the"VALID UNTIL" date read in by the subscription magcard. For so long asthe subscription is valid and the expiration date of the electroniccoupon has not yet passed, gate 305 will be enabled to pass theelectronic coupon information from line 244 and the householdidentification information on line 306 to its output 351. Expirationdate register 303 is implemented primarily by a pair of logiccomparators commonly used in the art.

The operation of the "AUTHORIZE AFTER×DAYS" interval timer 313 will nowbe discussed in conjunction with FIG. 7. It is the function of thisblock to monitor the "validity time interval" bytes 272 of the retailcoupon purchase information portion 252 of the electronic coupon message250. The time interval concerned is that time beyond which themanufacturer authorizes a repeated use of an electronic coupon. Thus,the first time a user selects an electronic coupon to be recorded on theuser's magcard, it will be recorded, and simultaneously a date, equal tothe time interval indicated in field 272, will be added to the currentreal time and stored in an internal memory 419 of interval timer 313.Any attempt to use the electronic coupon before the interval time haspassed will result an output on line 315 which presents a logical 0 toAND gate 305 preventing that particular electronic coupon from beingrecorded on the user's magcard.

The assembled messages are inputted to interval timer 313 overlying 244and routed to one input of AND gate 407 and to coupon message comparator401. Interval hold memory 419 contains all stored electronic couponshaving a timed interval restriction. Since the first time an electroniccoupon is to be used, memory 419 does not contain that electronic couponin its memory, the memory interface 417 being scanned by scanner 420does not contain an equivalent electronic coupon message on line 425 tobe compared in comparator 401. Thus, there would be no match in the twoelectronic coupon messages, and line 403 would be a logical 0. Thiscontrol signal on line 403 is inverted in NAND gate 405 to produce alogical 1 on line 315 enabling the electronic coupon to pass through ANDgate 305 in FIG. 6 and be recorded on user's magcard.

Simultaneously, the logical 1 at the output of gate 405 enables AND gate407 which passes the electronic coupon message over line 409 to acombiner 415 and an interval time detector 411. Detector 411 strips fromthe electronic coupon message the validity time interval bytes in field272 (e.g. representing a 6 month interval) and sends that data topartial adder 413. The real time clock on line 312 is also sent to adder413, so that the output is a time equal to the current time plus theinterval time (in this example, 6 months). The electronic coupon signalfrom line 409 is thus combined with the new advanced time (current timeplus 6 months) in combiner 415 and is sent to memory interface 417 overline 431 to be written into memory 419 over line 423 in a conventionalmanner. From this point forward, as scanner 420 scans through thecontents of memory 419 by means of the memory interface 417 continuallyretrieving memory data over line 421 and outputting the same over line425, the next time the same electronic coupon message is received online 244, a comparison is positive in comparator 401, and line 403becomes a logical 1 and line 315 becomes a logical 0, turning off theAND gate 305 (FIG. 6) and preventing the message from being recordedonto the user's magcard. This condition will continue until the timeinterval has passed i.e. until the date in the electronic coupon storedin memory 419 becomes less than the real time date on line 312. A datecomparator 428 thus receives just the date field from the messages beingscanned through interface 417 on line 427. When the real time dateexceeds the date stored in the electronic coupon in memory 419,comparator 428 outputs a logical 1 on line 429 which is sent to memoryinterface 417 so as to erase the contents of memory 419 for thatparticular electronic coupon. Thus, when the user attempts to again usethe coupon and the restricted time interval has passed, comparator 401will not find a comparison, and the system operates as if the messagewere received for the first time as previously discussed.

The limit code byte in field 274 (FIG. 5) in the retail coupon purchaseinformation section 252 operates in a manner similar to that justdescribed with respect to the interval timer. That is, instead ofcomparing dates and updating dates within the interval timer 313, aquantity comparator and quantity update function is carried out in asimilar functional block (not shown). For example, upon first usage,there is no limit involved, and the output (corresponding to line 315)will be a logical 1 enabling recording of the electronic coupon on theuser's magcard. Simultaneously, a counter is set to the number in thelimit code field 274, and the comparison at a comparator (similar tothat of comparator 401) will again pass the electronic coupon to themagcard until such time as the counter reaches 0, at which time acomparison will be sensed, and the output of the limit code detectorwill inhibit further recording of the electronic coupon on the user'smagcard.

It should be noted that the electronic coupon information beingtransmitted by the TV station includes an alpha-numeric description ofthe product and discount amount to be displayed on the TV screen. Thisalpha-numeric information is stored in memory 128 along with otherinformation fields (FIG. 5) and is also available to the user in theedit mode. However, when recorded on the magcard for redemption, onlythe fields discussed in connection with FIG. 5 are transferred to thecard, since such alpha-numeric descriptive data is not needed by theredemption center.

The redeeming of the coupon at the redemption center (e.g. retail store)can be implemented in a number of ways. FIG. 8 shows one way. A userwill enter the retail store and find the coupon redemption desk uponwhich a magnetic card writer/reader is conveniently located. A userwipes his or her magcard through the slot of writer/reader 501, and theinformation is interpreted by coupon ID decoder 507 and sent to acustomer information reader 509 and coupon memory 511. The informationsent to reader 509 records significant information from the magcard,such as the user's name, address, zip code, product being purchased,limit on number of purchases per visit, etc. This information can laterbe used by the retail outlet or the manufacturer to intelligently makeadjustments to its marketing efforts. The limit on purchases is obtainedfrom the LIMIT CODE field 274 (FIG. 5) in the coupon message, as analternate use for field 274 discussed earlier. The coupon memory willcontain information inputted by a modem or floppy disk from themanufacturer, and/or through a keyboard 518 by an operator of the retailestablishment so that a comparison can be made with the informationbeing decoded from the user's magcard. When a match is made, the printerdriver interface 515 sends the electronic coupon information to aprinter 517 which may print a hard copy of the electronic couponcontaining not only the product and discount information but alsodirections as to which aisle or other location in the store the productcan be found, and, optionally, dependent upon application, a bar codefor use at the cash register.

FIG. 9 indicates that, instead of a dedicated stand-alone retail storeunit, the magcard writer/reader 601 can be interfaced with the retail'smainframe computer 607 via write and read lines 603 and 605,respectively. Writer/reader 601 may be of the type which draws a userscard in and holds it in the machine until the transaction is completed.The card is then released Additionally, as explained earlier, a cashregister/sales slip printer 609 can be configured to receive (via thecomputer 607) the user's magcard data directly without having to print apaper coupon to be read by an optical scanner which would slow down thecheckout process. However, even if the electronic coupon is to beredeemed by the user by sliding his or her card through a magcard readerat the cash register, with the amount automatically being deducted fromthe products being rung up by the cashier, it is still a convenience tothe customer for the store to provide an electronic coupon conveniencedesk at a readily accessible location near the entrance to the store, sothat the user can wipe the card through the slot of the reader andobtain valuable information as to the availability of the product andits location in the store. The two systems can operate totallycompatible with one another or independently. In either case, the entireprocess through checkout is much more streamlined over the clumsy,complex and time-consuming manual process of redeeming cut-out couponsin existence today.

Since the user may want to redeem some coupons and not others recordedon the card, a memory matching file 611 is provided which receives allof the electronic coupons from the user's card at the beginning ofcheckout At the end of checkout, all of the products for whichelectronic coupons existed on the card are compared with the full listin memory matching file 611, and any unused coupons will automaticallybe written back to the card.

It will be appreciated that, although the invention has been describedon the basis of preferred embodiments of the invention, variations ofthe invention will become obvious to one skilled in the art having beenexposed to the invention by the description of the preferredembodiments. For example, the same concepts as disclosed herein remainthe same whether analog or digital signals are employed. Additionally,all of the timing and coordinating of functions within the encoder anddecoder units can be carried out by operation of a microprocessor withonly simple programming required to implement the invention.Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited by this description, butonly by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:
 1. An apparatus for decoding and storing messages encoded inthe signal of a television picture transmission, said television picturetransmission containing video, audio, and message components, the videocomponent of said television picture transmission being displayed as apicture on a video screen, said apparatus comprising:decoding means forreceiving said message component, and for decoding said encoded messagescontained therein to produce a message signal containing said messages;a logo generator for generating a logo signal to create a visible logoon the display of a video screen, said logo generator synchronized withsaid video component of said television picture transmission signal; avideo mixer receiving said video component of said television picturetransmission signal, and receiving output from said logo generator formixing said logo signal with said video component so as to superimposesaid logo on said picture as viewed on the video screen; means coupledto said decoding means for sensing the existence of a message signal,and enabling the coupling of said logo signal to said video mixer onlyduring the time a message exists; means coupled to the output of saiddecoding means for passing selected ones of said message signals to saidvideo mixer for mixing said message signal with said video component soas to superimpose said selected message on said video component asviewed on the video screen; storage means capable of storing at least apart of each message selected; means for manually selecting ones of saiddisplayed messages for storage in said storage means; and means forstoring said selected message in said storage means.
 2. The apparatus asclaimed in claim 1, wherein said storage means comprises a memory. 3.The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said storage means isselected from the group consisting of magnetic cards, optical storagecards, and microchip cards, and their associated writing devices.
 4. Theapparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said storage means comprises aprinter and hard printout.
 5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1,wherein said at least a part of each message selected is a coderepresenting a discount toward the purchase of an item being displayedon the video screen during the time said selected message was displayed.6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, further comprising:means coupledto said memory for retrieving messages stored in said memory; and astorage card writer and storage card, said storage card writer coupledto said means for retrieving messages for writing at least portion ofsaid messages onto said storage card.
 7. The apparatus as claimed inclaim 6, comprising a message editor including:means coupled to saidmemory for reviewing all of said messages stored in said memory; andmeans for selectively deleting undesirable ones of said stored messagesbefore said storage card writer writes said retrieved messages onto saidstorage card.
 8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, furthercomprising:means coupled to said memory for retrieving messages storedin said memory; and a printer and hard printout, said printer coupled tosaid means for retrieving messages for printing at least a part of saidmessage onto said hard printout.
 9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6,comprising a message editor including:means coupled to said memory forreviewing all of said messages stored in said memory; and means forselectively deleting undesirable ones of said stored messages beforesaid printer prints said retrieved messages on said hard printout. 10.An electronic redeemable coupon generating system comprising:encodingmeans for encoding coupon-related data as part of the informationcontained in a standard television signal transmission, saidtransmission including picture information, associated with saidcoupon-related data, for display on a television monitor screen;decoding means for receiving said standard television signaltransmission and for extracting said coupon-related data from saidstandard television signal transmission during display of saidassociated picture information; means for selecting portions of theextracted coupon-related data and generating representations of suchselected portions; and recording means for recording saidrepresentations of said extracted coupon-related data portions on arecording medium for subsequent readout and coupon redemption.
 11. Thesystem as claimed in claim 10, wherein said decoding means comprisesmeans for displaying indicia on a television monitor screen responsiveto coupon-related data being encoded in said television signaltransmission.
 12. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein saiddecoding means comprises user means, manually operated by a person usingsaid decoding means, for selectively enabling and disabling extractionof said coupon-related data from said television signal transmission bysaid means for extracting.
 13. The system as claimed in claim 12,wherein said decoding means comprises:memory means for accumulatingselectively extracted coupon-related data; and wherein said recordingmeans includes means for storing representations of portions of saidselectively extracted coupon-related data on said recording medium. 14.The system as claimed in claim 13, wherein said decoding means comprisesmeans for editing the contents of said memory means.
 15. The system asclaimed in claim 10, wherein said medium is selected from the groupconsisting of magnetically striped cards, optical storage cards, andmicrochip cards, and said recording means is a writing device forwriting information on said medium.
 16. A decoding unit for receiving astandard television signal transmission containing picture informationfor display on a television monitor screen, and further containingassociated coupon-related data encoded as part of the informationcontained in said standard television signal transmission, said decodingunit comprising:means for extracting said coupon-related data from saidstandard television signal transmission during display of saidassociated picture information; and recording means for recordingrepresentations of selected portions of extracted coupon-related data ona recording medium for subsequent readout and coupon redemption.
 17. Thedecoding unit claimed in claim 16, comprising means for displayingpredefined indicia on the television monitor screen responsive tocoupon-related data being encoded in said television signaltransmission.
 18. The decoding unit as claimed in claim 17, comprisinguser means, manually operated by a person using said decoding means forselectively enabling and disabling extraction of said coupon-relateddata from said television signal transmission by said means forextracting.
 19. The decoding unit as claimed in claim 18,comprising:memory means for accumulating selectively extractedcoupon-related data; and wherein said recording means is coupled to saidaccumulating means for storing representations of portions of saidselectively extracted coupon-related data on said recording medium. 20.The decoding unit as claimed in claim 19, comprising: means for editingthe contents of said memory means.
 21. The decoding unit as claimed inclaim 16, wherein said medium is selected from the group consisting ofmagnetically striped cards, optical storage cards, and microchip cards,and said recording means is a writing device for writing information onsaid medium.
 22. The decoding unit as claimed in claim 20, comprisingauthorization means for preventing storage of selected coupon-relateddata on said recording medium by said means for storing upon detectionof a passed expiration date code contained in said coupon-related data.23. The decoding unit as claimed in claim 20, comprising authorizationmeans for preventing storage of selected coupon-related data on saidrecording medium by said means for storing upon detection of a timeinterval having passed relative to the time said selected coupon-relateddata was previously stored on said recording medium.
 24. The decodingunit as claimed in claim 20, comprising authorization meansincluding:means for storing a user subscription validation date code;and means for preventing storage of selected coupon-related data on saidrecording medium by said means for storing upon detection of theexpiration of said user subscription validation date code.
 25. Thedecoding unit as claimed in claim 20, comprising authorization means forpreventing storage of selected coupon-related data on said recordingmedium by said means for storing upon detection of the number of timessaid selected coupon-related data is stored on said recording mediumexceeding a limit code contained in said selected coupon-related data.26. An apparatus for decoding and storing messages encoded in the signalof a television picture transmission, said television picturetransmission containing video, audio, and message components, saidmessage component being transmitted periodically, the video component ofsaid television picture transmission being displayed as a picture on avideo screen and including a visible logo in the picture area only whena message component is being transmitted, said apparatuscomprising:decoding means for receiving said message component, and fordecoding said encoded messages contained therein to produce a messagesignal containing said messages; a video mixer receiving said videocomponent of said television picture transmission signal; means coupledto the output of said decoding means for passing selected ones of saidmessage signals to said video mixer for mixing said message signal withsaid video component so as to superimpose said selected message on saidvideo component as viewed on the video screen; storage means capable ofstoring at least a part of each message selected; means for manuallyselecting ones of said displayed messages for storage in said storagemeans; and means for storing said selected message in said storagemeans.
 27. The apparatus as claimed in claim 26, including means,responsive to said means for storing functioning to store a selectedmessage in said storage means, for altering an attribute of said logo inorder to give a visual indication of a successful message selection andstorage.
 28. A decoding unit for receiving a broadcasted standardtelevision signal containing picture information for display on atelevision monitor screen, and further containing coupon-related dataencoded as part of the information contained in said standard televisionsignal, said decoding unit comprising:means for extracting saidcoupon-related data from said standard television signal; and recordingmeans for recording representations of selected portions of extractedcoupon-related data on a recording medium for subsequent readout andcoupon redemption.
 29. The decoding unit claimed in claim 28, comprisingmeans for displaying predefined indicia on the television monitor screenresponsive to coupon-related data being encoded in said televisionsignal transmission.
 30. The decoding unit as claimed in claim 29,comprising user means, manually operated by a person using said decodingmeans for selectively enabling and disabling extraction of saidcoupon-related data from said television signal transmission by saidmeans for extracting.
 31. The decoding unit as claimed in claim 30,comprising:memory means for accumulating selectively extractedcoupon-related data; and wherein said recording means is coupled to saidaccumulating means for storing representations of portions of saidselectively extracted coupon-related data on said recording medium. 32.The decoding unit as claimed in claim 31, comprising:means for editingthe contents of said memory means.
 33. The decoding unit as claimed inclaim 29, wherein said predefined indicia is a logo which is displayedwhen said means for extracting detects that coupon-related data isencoded in the standard television signal.
 34. The decoding unit asclaimed in claim 28, wherein said means for extracting includes pulsedetecting means and pulse decoding means for detecting and decodingcoupon-related data which has been pulse encoded within the verticalblanking interval of the standard television signal.
 35. The decodingunit as claimed in claim 34, wherein said pulse detecting means detectspulse coded information contained within a horizontal scan line of thevertical blanking interval of the television signal.
 36. A decoding unitfor receiving a standard television signal containing pictureinformation for display on a television monitor screen, and furthercontaining coupon-related data encoded as part of the informationcontained in said standard television signal, said decoding unitcomprising:means for extracting said coupon-related data from saidstandard television signal; recording means for recordingrepresentations of selected portions of extracted coupon-related data ona recording medium for subsequent readout and coupon redemption; andmeans for displaying predefined indicia on the television monitor screenresponsive to coupon-related data being encoded in said televisionsignal transmission.
 37. The decoding unit as claimed in claim 28,wherein:the coupon-related data contained in said broadcasted standardtelevision signal includes broadcast source log information; and saidrecording means records a representation of said broadcast source loginformation on said recording medium.